If Spencer noticed a lack of butterflies, it might have been because he didn’t have time to get nervous. He accepted the fight on two weeks’ notice when Magnus Cedenblad was forced to withdraw from the Jan. 26 card.

“I learned that I’ve definitely got to get my ground game up,” Spencer said. “I’ve just got to work my ground game more. But it also taught me I’m meant to be in the UFC. I know I took a loss, but when I got in the cage, I felt right at home.”

Now, he just needs to get more at home on the mat.

Spencer, who’s been fighting professionally since 2009, found the sport when he bought a UFC 51 DVD at Walmart. Then he volunteered for a boxing tournament in his native Bluefield, Va. He lost that bout, too, taking heavy punches.

“I saw that white light, and I felt the feeling people feel when they want to quit,” he said. “But I didn’t quit.”

Instead, he trained to become a better striker and eventually picked up the skills needed to be an MMA fighter.

And now that he’s moved in to the octagon, Spencer just needs more refinement. He wants to return in two months, and he hopes to fight at his natural weight class.

“The UFC experience was awesome,” he said. “It was exactly what I thought it would be, competing with some of the best guys in the world. The UFC takes really good care of you.”

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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